Revue Design Arts Medias
2025

Grounding AI Map: The Consequences of Living with the Trouble of an Irreductionist Map

Ficozzi, Matilde, Mathieu Jacomy, Dario Rodighiero, Anne Beaulieu, and Anders Kristian Munk

https://journal.dampress.org/issues/design-et-abstractions/grounding-ai-map-the-consequences-of-living-with-the-trouble-of-an-irreductionist-map
Data visualizations are often seen as tools to make expert knowledge more accessible. Yet, without careful design, they risk simplifying or misrepresenting complex ideas. This case study examines the Grounded AI Map, a 100 m² floor installation at the Danish Technical Museum that visualizes millions of scientific articles on artificial intelligence. Visitors navigate this mapped knowledge physically, aided by automated bots that summarize and interpret content using large language models. These bots serve not just as guides but as mediators, prompting users to question and reinterpret the mapped knowledge through their own perspectives. By inviting interaction and critique, the map becomes a participatory space where knowledge is co-constructed. A quali-quantitative framework assesses this mediation by analyzing app data, observing visitor behavior, and conducting interviews. The study highlights how visualization, when combined with reflexive AI tools, can create more inclusive and situated ways of engaging with scientific knowledge.